How to Turn Cold Calling Into Hot Leads

By: Kim Teti

Is cold calling effective? We’ll break down techniques on how to do it and invest your time in the right prospects.

Cold calling (or emailing) remains part of the overall marketing strategy for most businesses. Sending the cold email is all about putting out a “feeler” to see if that prospect is interested in learning more – this way, you’ll know that they’ll be more receptive to information and want to set up a time to speak with you.

Once the prospect engages with you on the phone or through email, your cold lead becomes warm, which is always the goal. Here’s how you get there.

Tips:

1. Do your research. Gain a better understanding of the company’s pain points and objectives before the call or email so you can provide solutions that solve those pain points right off the bat.
2. Warm up the lead. Don’t call a prospect that has no clue of who you are or anything about your business. Start by sending them info that’s relevant to them and explain a little about what you do. Use LinkedIn to reach out and see if they’re interested in a call, and then you can schedule accordingly.
3. Nurture the relationship. The most successful way to do this is by looking at your lead's engagement: Which piece(s) of content have they looked at? Did they attend one of your webinars? Then tailor your future interactions based on topics they’ve already shown interest in.
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How to Put Cold Calling Into Action

Try out this easy method*:

• You have a list of 1,000 names to cold call.
• You want to schedule 30 appointments.
• You perform research and narrow your list down to 250 prospects that are qualified, meaning they’re good customers for your business.
• You use social media to ask clients for recommendations and referral introductions to most of the prospects on your list.
• You now have 75-100 well-qualified prospects willing to further discuss your ideas.
  
  

Spend less time on the phone and achieve better results. That’s how to make cold calling as effective as possible for your business.


*Source: “The Abusive Math of Cold Calling.” Jantsch, John. Duct Tape Marketing.